Taking the floor for the first time in three weeks, the Pirates' men's basketball team returned to form, winning their Western State Conference opener at Santa Barbara 93-67. Shulton Tobin led a balanced attack with 18 points and nine assists while Adrian McIntyre netted 14 points with four assists and a pair of steals. Darius Butler came off the bench to score 13 points while Anthony Garza and Jelani Bell each netted 12 points in the victory.
The Pirates (13-2, 1-0) took over the game early, racing to a 17-7 lead in the first seven minutes of play. The Pirates scored in a variety of ways early, including from range on shots by Donavan Williams and Caleb Geisendorfer, with a dunk on Kordell Gordon's steal and outlet to Williams who assisted the slam by Elijah McCloud, at the rim on drives by McIntyre and McCloud, and at the foul line with charity shots from Tobin and McIntyre.
Tobin's steal and lay-up followed by a triple from McIntyre extended the lead to 27-11 midway through the first half, and Garza scored the next 12 points for Ventura for a 39-26 advantage wih 1:28 remaining in the half. Michael Noulowe's steal led to a lay-up by McIntyre late and the Pirates led 41-26 at the break.
Ventura began the second half counting by three. Geisendorfer and McIntyre each hit three's and Tobin completed a 3-point play for a 50-28 lead 96 seconds into the period. Tobin's 3-pointer at the 13:41 mark extended the lead to 25 points, 63-38, and deuces from McIntyre and Bell gave the Pirates a 29-point margin. Two minutes later Darius Butler connected twice from three, and Bell's triple with 6:53 on the clock extended the lead to 83-53. The Pirates cruised in for the 93-67 victory.
Ventura was red-hot from the floor, connecting on 36 of 55 shots, a 65-percent clip. They also hit 12 of 20 shots from beyond the 3-point arc, and they were 9-12 at the foul line.
Gordon led the Pirates on the glass with six rebounds, with McIntyre, Geisendorfer and McCloud each pulling in four caroms.
Ventura will travel to LA Pierce to take on the Brahmas on Wednesday Jan. 12, but the schedule at that point gets murky. Their Jan. 15 date with Moorpark has been postponed, so VC may have to wait until Saturday Jan. 22 to take the court again against Oxnard. The latest updates to the Pirates' schedule will be posted on www.VCweplayhard.com and on VC Athletics' social media.